Winter is Coming, or Armchair Revolutionaries

You are ready for revolution. I was too. But winter is coming. Winter is always coming. And so I stopped one day, and realized that when the system is torn to shreds and lying spent in barren streets, we still need to eat. I stopped and realized that what it really means to want revolution is not what it seems.

It’s fun to tear down power structures and social mores that no longer serve us.

But it’s work to gather and preserve a winter’s worth of food to feed all of us. A lot of work, as it turns out.

Our elders wiped our mouths and butts and held us tight when storms raged outside. Unless we’re willing to build a safe home and keep them warm, we have no business telling them it’s time to tear down anything they built. They too grew up in a world that’s not fair, with greed, corruption and violence. They too hoped for better, taught us right from wrong, and hoped we would make a difference.

The difference we make means nothing if it’s only destruction and devastation. We aren’t upholding or honoring any ethical standards by bringing down everything that came before us. Surely they too made mistakes like we do, but if we want to correct that we’re going to have to talk replacement. If the system now doesn’t work anymore, it’s up to us to decide what to do instead.

The sad part is if you took even a slice of your time to put towards good, we would all be home free. But if you’re more than willing to make signs and take to the streets yet don’t want to take in any new mouths to feed, your speeches are hollow and don’t mean anything to me.

If you’re not willing to gather and prepare a winter’s worth of food, or teach children for free, or care for the elderly, it’s all just lip service you’ve been issuing.

Because at the end of the day, when you leave the riots and go back to your little safe haven, if you haven’t built anything solid for anyone but yourself, or haven’t gathered a winter’s worth of food to sustain us all together, then you haven’t torn down shit nor have you made any valid point known; you’re just a fraud with a big mouth and too much time on your hands.